Stock kitchen for solo cooking

January 22, 2004|By KRT.

If you live alone, your idea of a gourmet dinner might be a bowl of cereal or a frozen dinner. But you can cook for one if you stock your kitchen with the basics. You can either add them to leftovers or whip up something new from scratch.

What you buy depends on how you eat. If you love Chinese food, you'll want to stock soy sauce, chili paste and peanut oil. For Indian cuisine, get mustard seeds, garam masala and cumin. Here are some general suggestions to get you started. Just buy the very best you can afford. And buy small amounts, unless it's something you'll use often.